ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī said, “Ibn Sīrīn possessed outstanding knowledge of the laws of inheritance, judicial matters, and arithmetic.” (1)

Hammād ibn Zayd narrated from ʿĀṣim: “I heard Muwarriq al-ʿIjlī say, ‘I have never seen anyone whose understanding was so suffused with scrupulousness, nor anyone whose scrupulousness was so informed by understanding, as Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn.’” (2)

ʿĀṣim also related: When Muḥammad was mentioned in Abū Qilābah’s presence, he said, “Turn him whichever way you like; you will find him the most God-fearing among you and the one with the greatest self-control.” (3)

Hammād said: Ayyūb narrated to us, on the authority of Abū Qilābah, who exclaimed, “And who could bear what he bears?! Muḥammad moves as though astride the very tip of a spear.” (4)

Al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl, reporting from Ibn ʿAwn, said, “My eyes have never seen the like of three men: Ibn Sīrīn in Iraq, al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad in the Hijaz, and Rajāʾ ibn Ḥaywah in Syria. It is as though they met and exhorted one another.”

A heavy debt fell upon Ibn Sīrīn after he poured away a large quantity of oil on discovering a mouse in one of the containers.

Hammād ibn Salamah related from Thābit: Muḥammad once told me, “Abū Muḥammad, nothing kept me from sitting with you except the fear of fame, but tribulation pursued me until I found myself standing on the public platform.”

People then said, “This is Ibn Sīrīn—he has consumed people’s wealth, and he is burdened with a vast debt.” (5)